and Parish Council

2019 Feedback on proposed changes to

Electoral Boundary Review

The Electoral Commission’s original Boundary review recommendations to Parliament in Sept 2018 included our Parish (Broad Hinton & Winterbourne Bassett) in the West Selkley ward, Marlborough Area and new & East Wilts constituency. Since then it has been proposed to move us from not only our Ward, but also our Area Board and Constituency. The information set out below supports statistically and historically, why we believe we should and can remain according to the Commission’s 3 criteria.

The Commission states;-

In drawing up a pattern of electoral divisions, the Commission must balance it’s three statutory criteria, namely:

1. To deliver electoral equality where each county councillor represents roughly the same number of electors as others across the county.

2. That the pattern of divisions should, as far as possible, reflect the interests and identities of local communities.

3. That the electoral arrangements should provide for effective and convenient local government.

Our Parish’s connection with Marlborough is substantial. Within our Parish we hold 4500 years of historic, geological, farming and community links with Marlborough.The Chalk Hackpen Hill White Horse, part of the Ridgeway Roman road to and Neolithic stones all lie within our Parish, connecting us along the Winterbournes and the waterway flows direct from Marlborough to our Parish. We are included in the Marlborough Downs. The North Wessex Downs AONB, which covers the entirety of Marlborough area, extends to our Parish and to . Unfortunately, this substantial connection to Marlborough and not to Lyneham area doesn’t seem to hold any water with the Commission and it is perceived to be only about numbers.

May we quote from Baroness Scott’s letter to the Commissioner of LGBCE dated 18th July, 2018.

‘I believe very strongly that this should not be a numbers game and that the emphasis on size is simply wrong.’

As presently proposed, we have complied with the above criteria but we believe the LGBCE has proposed that we are moved out simply to comply with item 1 only. Our Parish Council proposes two alternatives to which we can comply with all 3 criteria and remain within our present Ward, Area and Consituancy :-

Alternative No. 1.

Provide 99 Councillors to Council.

We are aware that a meeting with and the Commission confirmed that 98 Councillors are preferred but as the Commission states there is a -1/+1 leeway.

The Commission proposes the division of Marlborough Area Board into 3 wards instead of the present 4 Wards subsequently requiring 3 Ward Councillors instead of the requested 4 and therefore increasing the electoral numbers for each Ward.

If our Parish, Froxfield and Clyffe Pypard (also included in AONB) were included in the total Electorate figures the numbers would work for 4 wards.

Of course, if the proposed 99 Councillors originally requested by Wiltshire Council had been accepted we would not be in this situation.

May we again quote from Baroness Scott’s letter to the Commissioner of LGBCE dated 18th July, 2018.

‘We consider a council size of 99 is the most appropriate to enable us to provide effective and convenient local government within Wiltshire, and to preserve our separate identities and sense of place and to have the capacity for good and strong community leadership. Any reduction would cause these communities to suffer’.

Alternative No. 2.

Considering Cornwall Council’s average electorate is projected to 2023 not 2024 and is 5163 electors per ward and the ward of St. Denis electorate is 5715, we implore you to consider the below mentioned proposal of ward division figures.

The Boundary Commission’s proposal of electorate numbers per ward for the Marlborough Area includes moving Mildenhall and Savernake to Marlborough East division. The Council also proposed to add to Marlborough East, an area running south of St John’s Marlborough Academy and containing a substantial housing development. This development is expected to add around 300 electors to the total electorate by 2024. The Council proposed that the remaining part of Marlborough Town would therefore be included in a division containing the remaining parishes of the existing West Selkley division, with the exception of the joint parish council of Broad Hinton & Winterbourne Bassett.

The Commission therefore include the Council’s proposals for Marlborough East and Marlborough West divisions as part of our draft recommendations subject to three modifications. We propose that Cherry Orchard and Upper Church Fields remain part of Marlborough West division as we consider that the area to the east of St John’s Marlborough Academy is an established community and propose to include properties on the west side of Herd Street, at Elmswood Terrace and St David’s Way and between London Road and the in Marlborough East division.

The Council proposed that the parishes of Ogbourne St Andrew and Ogbourne St George be added to the existing Aldbourne & Ramsbury division and the parish of Froxfield be removed from it and added to its proposed Pewsey Vale East division.

The below-mentioned figures are taken from the Boundary Commission draft recommendations February 2019 and include the above-mentioned adjustments.

To include Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett Parish within the Marlborough Area and thus preserving our history and complying with the 3 criteria, may we propose the following adjustments using the average of 4258;-

Move Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett from Lyneham to Marlborough West (Lyneham is 4668 at +10% to 4167 at -2%) and move 470 Marborough Town electors to Marlborough East from Malborough West. Move Mildenhall back to Ramsbury from Marlborough East. Bring Ogbourne St. Andrew back to Marlborough East from Ramsbury and include the other 470 Marlborough Town electors in Marlborough East. Savernake moves to Pewsey Vale east 4547 + 220 =4667 at +9.6% variance or add to Pewsey 4161 + 220 = 4381 at +2.8% variance. East Kennett leaves Marlborough West and is included in Pewsey Vale West, electorate of 4272 + East Kennet, 83 = 4355 at 2% variance. Thus supporting the Pewsey area numbers per Councillor.

WARD PROPOSED WARD PROPOSED WARD PROPOSED NUMBERS NUMBERS NUMBERS Marlborough 4622 Marlborough 4578 Ramsbury 4675 West East +Broad 533 -Mildenhall 385 +Mildenhall 385 Hinton +W. Bassett 143 - Savernake 220 -Ogbourne 303 St. Andrew - 470 + Ogbourne 303 Marlborough St. Andrew Town - East 83 + 470 Kennet Marlborough Town TOTAL 4745 4746 4760

The following figures show 2 wards within the acceptable limit and 1 ward with a variance of only 0.53% above the Alderbery & Winterslow ward of 4737 electors accepted at a 11.25% variance.

WARD TOTAL VARIANCE % Marlborough West 4745 11.43% Marlborough East 4746 11.46% Ramsbury 4760 11.78%

The Wiltshire Council report states:- ‘The calculation method that has been used applies both the Office for National Statistics (ONS) population projection increase (3.8% for Wiltshire) and the proposed growth in housing numbers from April 2017 to March 2024. This is likely to include a certain element of ‘double- counting’ as a proportion of the population increase will also reside in the new housing.’

It is highly likely that the double counting will be more than 0.53% therefore the actual variance figure forecast will, in reality, be at an acceptable level. We are therefore requesting to be reinstated to the position where we have previously been included and also included in the Boundary Commissions final recommendations to Parliament, within the new Marlborough West Ward, Marlborough Area Board and the new Devizes & East Wilts constituency.

Please find below local information and History to support our strong connections and links with Marlborough Area applying the above criteria.

Our Parish’s connection with Marlborough is substantial. Within our Parish we hold 4500 years of historic, geological, farming and community links with Marlborough. The Chalk Hackpen Hill White Horse, part of the Ridgeway Roman road to Avebury and Neolithic stones all lie within our Parish, connecting us along the Winterbournes and the waterway flows direct through Marlborough to our Parish. We are included in the Marlborough Downs. The North Wessex Downs AONB, which covers the entirety of Marlborough area, extends to our Parish and to Clyffe Pypard.

1. Location On reviewing a terrain map, it shows that the 3 settlements of BH, Uffcott and WB are all located on the upland, chalk, Marlborough Downs. Their development and links to the outside world were dictated by the land. The main artery passing through them that is the valley of the seasonal Winterbourne (aka Upper Kennett) flowing from springs to the NE of BH in a south westerly direction, picking up other spring-fed streams and seasonal bournes, e.g. the Sambourne, until south of Avebury at Swallowhead Springs it turns eastward as the non-seasonal River Kennett.

That route is still the main artery of economic and rural life, now followed by the A-roads - A4361 and A4 to Avebury and Marlborough respectively. To split responsibility for the upper A4361 between Area Boards will only increase the already bureaucratic task for Wiltshire Council.

The secondary routes in the parish follow the old drove roads from the winter quarters around the settlements to the high pastures up and beyond the Ridgeway; and by extension of these routes, to the market and sheep fairs at Marlborough (Andrews & Drury map of Wiltshire 1773).

Routes to/from the clay vales of north Wiltshire were difficult and restricted contact. Only minor roads exist as the main routes even now.

This difficulty is seen every winter when even a small snow episode can leave the villages along the Winterbourne cut off for anything from 1 to 3 days (as in winter 2017/18) from the outside world. The steep hills into and out of the valley make it impassable.

Marlborough Downs

2. The confusing Bassett connection There may some confusion in the minds of the Electoral Boundary Commissions planners arising from the name Bassett, as linked to both WB and Royal Wootton Bassett. All this reflects is the history of ownership of manors in the Middle Ages, and has nothing to do with rural life and development of the parish. Alan de Bassett owned WB Manor, but he also owned manors in High Wycombe, Woking, Headington, etc. (Source: Victoria County Histories, Wiltshire, vol 9, pps 186-205). The Bassett family, originally from Oily Basset near Caen in Normandy, also owned land there (Dictionary of National Biography vol 3 1885-1900). None of this makes a reason for linking WB and by extension the whole modern parish of BH&WB, although with Brexit coming maybe becoming part of Ouily Basset area board could be seen as a good thing.

More recently, in early 20th century, and with a more lasting legacy was the Meux family who bought most of the western Marlborough Downs from Lockeridge, through East Overton and Avebury and up the BH to create one of the largest shooting estates in southern Britain. Many of the existing odd house numbers in these villages e.g. 110 Avebury and 143 BH are the numbers of the estate houses from that time. The estate had no links with the clay lands below (Giddy & Giddy 1906 Sales Particulars) .

3. Historical Development The whole history of the development of the 3 settlements has been based on a continuous link up the whole Upper Kennett/Winterbourne from Avebury.

The oldest trace of human activity here is the Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle, dated to c.2400BC. This stone circle was described in early 18th century by the antiquarian William Stukeley as a druid’s chapel, while Avebury was his cathedral. (William Stukeley Abury, a Temple of the British Druids 1743, 45 and David, A, Field, D, Fassbinder, J, Linford, N, Linford, P, & Payne, A 2003 “A Family Chapel …to an Archdruid’s Dwelling”: an investigation into the stone circle at Winterbourne Bassett, Wiltshire; in The Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, 96, 2003, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Devizes, pp195-205).

The boundary between the Iron Age tribes of the Dobunni/Atrebates and the Durotriges and the later Roman cantons of these tribes, is generally accepted, based on coin evidence, as being along the chalk ridge dividing modern southern and central Wiltshire from the lowlands to the north and west (Lyn Selwood, 1984 Tribal Boundaries Viewed from the Perspective of Numismatic Evidence; in “Aspects of the Iron Age in Central Southern Britain” edited Barry Cunliffe and David Miles, Oxford Monograph No.2, 1984) and (Barry Cunliffe 2003 Locating the Dobunni; in “The Land of the Dobunni” ed. Ecclestone, Gardner, Holbrook, & Smith, Committee for Archaeology in Gloucestershire/CBA-SW, Gloucester)

In the Saxon period the Hundreds became the unit of local government and justice. This area was initially part of the Avebury Hundred, which soon amalgamated with Preshute Hundred to form Selkley – which still exists as the Ward for County Council elections. Selkley Hundred covered the whole of the Marlborough Downs from Aldbourne to Avebury to BH (Andrew Reynolds, 2002, Avebury, Biography of a Landscape).

4. Local Government History Selkley Hundred continued as the unit of local government until the 19th century reforms from 1832 to 1894. In 1894 Rural Districts were created and the 3 settlements became part of Marlborough Rural District Council. In 1935 this amalgamated with Ramsbury Rural District Council and the combined RDC lasted until 1974 to be replaced by Kennet District Council. Since Wiltshire became a unitary authority in 2009, this parish has been part of the Marlborough Area.

1956 UDC and RDC Areas

5. Parish Churches Development Parishes developed as ecclesiastical foundations which later took on more social responsibilities to become mirrored by local government parishes.

All the 3 original parishes in the modern parish of BH, Uffcott and WB, were outreaches from the minster church at Avebury (Andrew Reynolds, 2002, Avebury, Biography of a Landscape). They have always been part of the Avebury circle with the Rector being based there. That relationship is even stronger today with a shared vicar covering all the Upper Kennet churches.

6. Economy and land use The main industry of the parish is agriculture. This is predominantly arable with sheep grazing on the higher lands with thin soils. This is in stark contrast with the predominantly dairy farming in the low clay vales.

This is the classic “Chalk and Cheese” divide of Wiltshire (Watts, K 2003 The Marlborough Downs, Bradford-on-Avon, Ex Libris Press p.31 and Wilson, A R 2007 Forgotten Labour; the Wiltshire agricultural worker and his environment 4500BC-AD1950, Esat Knoyle, Hobnob Press) .

Fig. 1: BH & WB (red circle) in the Chalk Country

Horse breeding, training and racing form another large industry within the wider agricultural sphere making use of space on the Downs for gallops and race courses. This does not exist off the chalk.

All of the land in the parish is within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Beauty, as is the rest of the Marlborough Area. In the RWB – Lyneham Area, only the lower chalk slopes of the Downs bordering BH and WB is within the AONB.

7. Education

The only primary school in the Winterbourne/Upper Kennet valley is at BH. Avebury primary school closed some years ago. Children come from all the villages along the Winterbourne to BH and grow up knowing each other.

The majority of secondary school pupils in the parish go to Marlborough. Only a small number go outside the Marlborough Area to schools in and RWB.

8. Shopping and Entertainment

Marlborough is the principal shopping destination for people in this parish. The attraction of a range of supermarkets from both ends of the price spectrum, a twice weekly fruit and vegetable market and many clothes shops, bars, restaurants fulfil most people’s needs. Devizes holds similar attractions but RWB is not seen locally as an important shopping or entertainment destination.

9. Public Transport

Although we have a road over the Malborough Downs, direct from Broad Hinton to Marlborough, the only bus link serving the parish allows access to – Devizes – Trowbridge. The bus link from our Parish to Marlborough is via Avebury. Rail connections only exist outside the immediate area at Swindon or through Pewsey.

There are no public transport connections to Lyneham or RWB.

10. Representation

The villages, like BH, Uffcott and WB, in the Marlborough Board Area are all in the West Selkely Ward at County Council level. That means we are represented by someone from the area who knows the area or by someone with strong links to this area.

At Parliamentary level we are represented as part of the Devizes constituency, most of which lies in the chalk downlands of central Wiltshire.

To now be represented at Area level by a body based away from the downs, with no experience of life on the Downs would be a retrograde step.

11. Summary

We believe that with a few adjustments as suggested, we can comply with all 3 criteria set by the Commission.

1. To deliver electoral equality where each county councillor represents roughly the same number of electors as others across the county.

2. That the pattern of divisions should, as far as possible, reflect the interests and identities of local communities.

3. That the electoral arrangements should provide for effective and convenient local government.

We have proposed 2 alternative ways to include our Parish numerically within the Marlbourough West Ward and still be of benefit to Lyneham and Pewsey. Our Parish Electoral stats will still work within an acceptable level of the permitted Electoral range if we remain, providing for effective and convenient local government.

We have proved by our local social identity and historic ties that we have significant strong links with the Marlborough area, in the 4,500 years of traceable history of the 3 settlements that form this parish it has been a record of continuous contact solely with Marlborough and within the Marlborough Downs, never once with a link to the clay vales below.

We believe we have satisfied the criteria and are therefore requesting that the Parish of Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett be reinstated to the position where we have historically been included, within West Selkley Ward (new Marlborough West ward), Marlborough Area Board and the Devizes & East Wilts constituency.

Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett Parish Council